Head of the API Centre of Excellence

Euroclear; Polska; Hybrid; PLN 300,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

Euroclear is seeking Head of the API Centre of Excellence to lead the enterprise API strategy and drive transformation to an API-first organisation. You will own the vision, roadmap, standards, tooling, lifecycle governance, and a community of practice for secure, scalable API development.

You will manage a multidisciplinary squad, act as Product Owner for API platforms and services, and collaborate with architecture, security, and business domains to accelerate delivery and interoperability

Qualifications

• Proven experience in API strategy, integration architecture, or platform/product leadership.
• Strong technical and hands-on API expertise.
• Understanding of API lifecycle management, API gateways, security patterns (OAuth2, JWT, mTLS), versioning, documentation standards (OpenAPI).
• Proven people leadership with coaching, feedback, high performing team management and agile environment.
• Ability to foster psychological safety, accountability, and collaboration within the squad.
• Strong product mindset: roadmap ownership, stakeholder management, and value delivery.
• Excellent communication across technical and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Define and refine Euroclear’s enterprise API strategy, standards, and best practices.
• Lead API CoE product roadmap (platforms, tooling, lifecycle management, governance services).
• Prioritise backlog, manage dependencies, and align with technology strategy.
• Define KPIs, success measures, and value realisation for API assets and integration capabilities.
• Lead and coach a multidisciplinary squad of engineers, specialists, and analysts and manage relationships with outsourcing partners.
• Recruit and onboard squad members; act as change sponsor at squad level.
• Foster an engineering culture focused on quality, automation, reusability, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure reliable operation of API platforms and alignment with SDLC, security, and compliance standards.
• Collaborate with Architecture, Engineering Modernisation, Cloud, Cyber Security, and business tribes.
• Drive a community of practice, training initiatives, and reusable assets.

Skills

API strategy

Integration architecture

Platform leadership

Product ownership

API gateways

OAuth2

JWT

mTLS

OpenAPI

People leadership

Agile leadership

Communication

Change management

Tools

OpenAPI tooling

CI/CD

Observability tooling

Job description

Division: The Group Business Solutions (GBS) division ensures the competitiveness of Euroclear by delivering reliable and sustainable IT solutions for the financial securities markets. Our technical teams deliver new IT solutions and improve existing applications for both our internal and external clients. We deploy changes into the production environment in a controlled and structured way that doesn't compromise production stability, and we ensure applicative production support.

Within GBS, you will join the Solution Engineering team where you can play a key role in modernization of the engineering practices for IT divisions.

Role Overview

As the Head of the API Centre of Excellence, you will lead Euroclear’s enterprise API strategy and drive our transformation towards an API First organisation. You will own the vision, roadmap, standards, tooling, lifecycle governance, and community of practice that enable secure, scalable, and modern API development across the company.

You will lead a multidisciplinary squad, act as Product Owner for API platforms and services, and partner closely with architecture, engineering tribes, cyber security, and business domains to accelerate delivery and improve interoperability across Euroclear’s systems.

You will be reporting to the Solution Engineer Tribe lead

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Define and continuously refine Euroclear’s enterprise API strategy, standards, and best practices.
• Drive adoption of API First design and modern integration patterns across engineering squads and work in close collaboration with Enterprise and Solution Architects to ensure broad adoption
• Serve as the organisation’s API thought leader and key advisor to senior technology stakeholders.

Product Ownership

• Own and deliver the API CoE product roadmap (platforms, tooling, lifecycle management, governance services).
• Prioritise backlog, manage dependencies, and ensure alignment with Euroclear’s technology strategy.
• Define KPIs, success measures, and value realisation for API assets and integration capabilities.
• Lead and coach a multidisciplinary squad of engineers, specialists, and analysts and managing relationship with some outsourcing partners.
• Acts as people manager for internal squad members focusing on continuous feedback, performance evaluation, skills and competency development and career development.
• Lead the squad recruitment process and onboarding process
• Acts as a change sponsor at squad level, endorsing and promoting transformation initiatives
• Foster an engineering culture focused on quality, automation, reusability, and continuous improvement and ensure squad-level adoption of agreed ways of working
• Ensure reliable operation of API platforms and alignment with SDLC, security, and compliance standards.

Technical Excellence & Governance

• Establish and evolve API development guidelines (design, security, versioning, lifecycle, documentation).
• Support API publishers and consumers across domains; run design reviews and provide expert guidance.
• Champion the use of modern API technologies and tools (gateway platform, developer portal, observability).

Cross Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Architecture, Engineering Modernisation, Cloud, Cyber Security, and business-aligned tribes.
• Drive a strong community of practice, training initiatives, and reusable assets.
• Ensure consistent API quality, resilience, and performance across the Euroclear landscape.

Tribe leadership

• As a member of the Tribe Leadership, you will actively contribute to collective Tribe objectives, and you will take ownership of transversal Tribe Leadership roles

Profile & Qualifications

Required

• Proven experience in API strategy, integration architecture, or platform/product leadership.
• Strong technical and hands-on API expertise
• Strong understanding of API lifecycle management, API gateways, security patterns (OAuth2, JWT, mTLS), versioning, documentation standards (OpenAPI).
• Proven people leadership capability, including coaching, feedback, high performing team management and engagement in an agile environment.
• Ability to foster psychological safety, accountability, and collaboration within the squad.
• Strong change mindset with the ability to promote and embed new ways of working.
• Strong product mindset: roadmap ownership, stakeholder management, and value delivery.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills across technical and non-technical audiences.

Preferred

• Experience driving enterprise scale technology transformations.
• Knowledge of Euroclear systems, security standards, and integration landscape.
• Familiarity with cloud-native patterns, event-driven architecture, microservices, and CI/CD automation.

What We Offer

• A strategic leadership role shaping Euroclear’s engineering evolution.
• A highly visible position contributing to enterprise-wide transformation.
• A dynamic environment with strong collaboration across technology disciplines.
• Opportunities for continuous learning, development, and engineering excellence.